Developer Tools

Getting started

Introduction

The GoCardless API is a wrapper around national Direct Debit systems in the UK, Eurozone
and Sweden, allowing you to collect payments anywhere with one integration, pulling
payments direct from customers’ bank accounts.

With the GoCardless API, it’s easy to build a partner integration, adding Direct Debit
functionality to your software, so your users can collect and manage their payments in
a way that’s seamlessly integrated with your product and their business processes.

For example, if you provide accounting and invoicing software, you can integrate Direct
Debit using the GoCardless API so your users can get paid automatically every time they
raise an invoice. But it’s not just finance software that works great with GoCardless -
we’ve seen partner integrations built with all kinds of software from tools for running
gyms to WordPress blogs.

If you want to collect Direct Debit for yourself, rather than allowing your users to
collect payments through your product, head over to our
API integration guide instead.

Integrating with GoCardless has the power to add huge value for your users, streamlining
their businesses processes and providing a great experience.

As well as delighting your users, you may be entitled to a share of our revenue for each
payment collected through your integration, or you can add your own fees on top of
GoCardless’s. If you’re interested in this, please
contact our partnerships team before you start
your integration.

In this guide, we’ll cover all of the key steps of building a great integration,
including:

Allowing your users to set up Direct Debit mandates with their customers

Initiating payments against those mandates on behalf of your users

Handling our webhooks, so you can stay up-to-date on what happens to your users’
mandates and payments

Every partner integration is different, so this guide can’t tell you exactly what to do,
but we’ll explain the flows you should handle, and give you some ideas of how to provide
the best experience for your users.